Here At The Edges Of Everything
by Bialy
Summary: It is the end of the end and Donna Noble knows it. Oneshot, set somewhere between Planet of the Dead and The End of Time.


Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue. Lyrics lines are 'Tell The King' by The Libertines and 'Unguarded Moment' by The Churches.

Note: Ten and Donna because I'm in a very DW mood as a result of Season 5 and my friend The Raggedy Doctor. So since Donna is my favourite forever, THIS. First attempt at DW so I'm sorry if I just butchered it. Set somewhere between Planet of the Dead and The End of Time. Enjoy.

x

**Here At The Edges Of Everything**

_even now there's something to be proud about_

_-_

It is the end of the end and Donna Noble knows it.

She's been sick for a long time now. No kids, of course, nah. Not for her. She'd have been a rubbish mum, even good and well. And with it – well, who wants to be wheeling their mum to chemo twice a week?

She never quite believed it when people said it to her, but she can feel her death waiting. It's the weirdest, and worst, thing she thinks she has ever felt. It is a slow creeping inevitability working its way up her spine, murmuring into her ear, that this, Donna Noble, this is your last day, and _what have you done with your life?_

Another little voice whispers in her other ear, one that has followed her round for ten years and she has never quite understood, and it says _Much more than you know_.

There is a strange sound coming from outside. Her mum'll probably go see what it is. She's odd like that, her mum. Didn't used to be, but these days, the slightest weird noise and she's up and out, seeing what's going on.

Sure enough she can hear the creak of her chair, the shuffle of her slippers, the creak and slam of doors. There's the distinctly different sound of the front door opening, and the noise from outside gets louder.

It's like nothing Donna has ever heard, but the oddest thing is that it sounds so familiar.

***

She probably falls asleep because when she opens her eyes there is a twerpy looking young man in a suit hovering over her.

"Donna," he says, with this tone in his voice like he knows her, and it is breaking his heart.

"Who're you?" she asks.

The man pulls a face. "Bit of a tricky question to answer, not much time to answer it in." A pause. "You're not well."

"What," Donna says withering, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. "You some kind of doctor?"

The widest smile splits his face and she is certain she has never seen him before but God, something about that smile strikes some chord inside her. "That's right. I'm a doctor. And here's the thing." His face darkens. "You _are_ going to die, Donna Noble. There's no avoiding that now. What I'm here for is to do something I really shouldn't be doing, and that's to give you a choice _how_.

_Euthanasia_. Donna tenses. Her eyes shoot to the doorway, but her mum isn't there. What is this? Has she brought some – some screwed up psycho doctor here to put her out of her misery?

Well, like hell.

Anger starts to rise within in her and Donna Noble has never been one of the quiet ones, and she's not about to start now. "Listen, you! If you think you're going to stick me with something before my time's up you can sod off! I'm not having any off your 'drift off into a peaceful sleep' stuff pumped into me, thank you very much!"

There it is again, that _smile_.

"Wouldn't even dream of it. Nasty stuff, that. And killing's killing, after all. Avoid it if I can. You were better at that than me, though. Avoiding it, that is."

He isn't making any sense. She tells him as much.

"Good! Good – what good is sense to anyone? If there's one thing I've had enough of lately, it's sense. Today, Donna, it's _your_ story." The smile disappears and he is all seriousness. If Donna were a little more poetically inclined, she would say that there were stars burning behind his eyes. "Do you want to lie here, and die in this bed? Little Donna Noble who never did anything, little Donna Noble who never had a chance to shine –"

Something catches in her throat, and before she knows if it's anger or despair, she tells herself it's anger. "Listen, you –"

"- or do you want to fly? Do you want to _remember_, Donna, all those little blank spots, all the bits between the lines – do you want to have one last hurrah, one last chance to do something extraordinary, before you burn up?"

Donna doesn't understand a word of it but she just can't stop looking at his _eyes_. The little voice says, _they are different but behind it – _and then, _you know him, he's the –_

"The truth is, I'm dying, too. Not the same way you are –not as quick, not as permanent, but everything's going to be changing for me and trust me when I say sometimes, that feeling is worse than dying. So, what's it going to be, Donna?" For a second, he looks so familiar, this skinny man with the bright eyes and big words. "Die in bed or die in the stars?"

Donna doesn't even believe a word he says, but every single fibre of her being is screaming at her to say it, so she does – "Stars."

The doctor leans close, his eyes are burning. He puts his hand against her temple.

"Time and relative dimensions in space," he says, very clearly. "The Shadow Proclamation. Chameleon Circuit. The Medusa Cascade. Galifrey."

_The Doctor came from Galifrey_.

And before she can even work out what that means, she is remembering.

"Time Lords. Daleks. Cybermen. Donna, are you listening? I am the _Doctor_."

And in that instant, with all of her heart, and her soul, and her mind, and every memory that has slipped through her fingers, Donna _knows_ he is.

When the world stops spinning and her brain is buzzing and she can feel it verging on the edge of exploding, she looks up at him. "Better get moving," she says, and inside her head, universes are turning."Not much time."

Yep, she remembered that smile.

He grabs her hand. And, for the very last time, they're running.

-

_so deep_  
_deep without a meaning_  
_i knew you'd find me leaving _


End file.
